BARCLAYS has more than doubled the shares it holds in Israeli weapons manufacture Elbit Systems in two years, peace and anti-poverty groups reveal today.

A joint report by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and War on Want says the high street bank now has £2.7 million invested in the arms firm.

Published today in the run-up to the Barclays AGM in Glasgow on Thursday, the report also says that the bank now holds over £2 billion in shares in nine companies selling arms to Israel that it uses against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories and provides £6.1bn in loans and underwriting to those firms.